Heartfelt Season’s Greetings during this (perhaps first) virtual Christmas season!  Christmas is about unconditional giving to others, however we’ll probably be digging a lot deeper into ourselves this year given the scarcity of external distractions and activities.[mfn]it won’t be that hard. And don’t “drink and meditate” either…[/mfn]

At the start of December I was introduced to the musings of Ari Weinzweig, co-founder of Zingerman’s in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.  His take on the pandemic is that it is inviting us to become more sustainably humble and more positively accepting of things & others just-as-they-are, ie. as works-in-progress.  Hey, we are ‘unfinished’ creations too, and we get a lot of slack — from ourselves!  He writes:

The linguistic origin of the word “humble” comes from the Latin “humilis,” meaning “grounded” or “from the earth.” It’s connected to the word “humus,” which refers to the organic component of soil. In Hebrew, the name of the first man in the Old Testament, Adam, comes from “adama,” or “earth.” Which leads me to wonder if living humbly is a prerequisite for bringing our full humanness to the fore?

Christ and the angels don't have to social-distance... which is one of the hopeful messages for Christmas2020: we really can get much closer to the inner/heavenly realms.

Jesus, Mary & Joseph, and the angel – models of humility – simply doing the divine will.  NB. is “heaven on earth” about non-distancing re. CARE?

Perhaps humbleness happens when we’re at our most human? And when we’re at our most human, we’re effectively in a grounded state of humbleness?

…What became clear to me as I pursued my studies on the subject, is that to stay meaningfully humble is a multi-layered, complex piece of work that continues on for our whole life. As we do that work, we all impact, and are impacted by, each other. None of us can do it alone. Maybe we could consider authoring a Declaration of Inter-dependence that references Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Humbleness?[mfn]check out our earlier Relationalism blog [/mfn] We are all, whether we like it or not, ultimately in this together. 

Humility, I’ve come to see, is a prerequisite for making that happen. If we want to build healthy, human, and happy [communities], humility has to happen first. Humility allows us to honour the uniqueness of each person we meet, and to celebrate the beauty of the [diverse & viable & unique community of light] we’re trying to build.“[mfn]Humility, a humble, anarchistic enquiry (Zingerman’s Press)[/mfn]

That celebration is my Christmas wish to the whole (planetary) community; together with a desire to see universal Christmas values practised 24/7.

You want a gift?  Sure, with pleasure: below is Ari’s recipe for sustainable humility: “stop with the judgement already!”

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Enjoy some comforting hot chocolate and/or pie during your quality Self-time this Christmas & New Year!